The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 107

11 ; Ezek. xxviii. 13), agate, amethyst, ligu:re antithesis with the 8landing (i.e. the stand- (Exod. xxxix. 12), beryl, jasper, onyx (Gen. ing-place) here rendered 'inadequately or ii. 12; Exod. xxxix. 6, 18; Ezek. xxviii. incorrectly, the attende.noe of his ministers. 18), ruby (Job xxviii. 18; Prov. iii. 15), '1.'he attendance, i.e. "the station (ir,>J11:l) (see chryeolite, chryeoprasue (Ezek. xxviii. 13), the four other occurrences of this· word : The precious stones which the queen brought 1 Kings x. 5; I Chron. xxiii. 28; eh. xxxv. are likely enough, however, to have comprised 15; lea. xxii. 19). OJ hi• mini,ter,; Hebrew, other varieties (including the pearl from the 1'Q':11?7;1, participle of a pie! verb, nJ~. This Persian Gulf), such as Pliuy describes; and word,' in an amazing majority of the hundred see in pe.rticule.r 1 Chron. xxix. 2; Ezek. occurrences of it, expresses ministry of ,acred x.xvii. 16 ; and the al't. " Stones, Precious," service of some kind. It may, indeed, be in Smith's 'Bible Dictione.ry,' iii. 1382. All said that the present passage, with only one that was in her heart. The expression simply or two ot.hers, are doubtful in this meaning means all that she had so desired to get in- or character of explanation. To our next formation upon, since she had heard of the clause, referring to their apparel, we find in fame of Solomon. the parallel mention, as here, of the eup- Ver. 2.-Nothing hid from Solomon; i.e. bearera, though the matter of their apparel nothing obscure to him-no question too is not included as it is here. Part of the knotty for Solomon. difficulty of the verse arises from the con- Ver. 4.-The meat of his table (see 1 sideration that up to this point the contents Kings iv. 22, 23). Translating our thoughts of the successive clauses of it may compose rather violently into modern language, we possibly enough a sharp graphic description might picture the queen inspecting the of the daily banquet BCene. An apt refer- kitchena of the palace, and remember that ence to similar description of Arabian ban- the kitchens of an Oriental court did the quets is given in the' Speaker's Commentary' work, not of an individual "table," but of o.e to be found in vol. ii. pp. 213-215 of those of a very large domestic and official re- 'Ancient Monarchies.' Our next clause, tinue; much more these of Solomon now. Keil however, brings us back into difficulty by its and Bertheau, however, with others, refer this reference to Solomon's ascent by which he expree8ion to the set-out of one meal-table went up into the house of the Lord (1 Chron. (as e.g. that of a modern banquet, wedding x.xvi. 16 with our Exposition, • Pulpit Com- breakfast, or the like), where both the mentary'), apparently so unseasonably; nor abounding lading of the table and the ample are we much helped by reading, with the ve.riety of the courses, and the rich foreign Septuagint, "the burnt offerings which he or home fruits, in season or out of season, offered at the house of the Lord." The and the furnishing and d6corating of the table, obscurity and lack of coherence are not all come in to add their contribution of effect; formidable, indeed, and perhaps may be and they quote not inaptly our ver. 20, wit.h moderate satisfaction set down again to elucidated by 1 Kings x. 21. Thie was a the account of the occasionally careless selec- daily glory with Solomon's palace-establish- tion of the compilers from the material of ment. The immediate connection and the the older work. Possibly the allusion in our contents of this verse, though difficult, favour ver. 11 to the terraces, or stairs, or highways this direction of explanation, as will be seen (see margin) to "the house of the Lord,'' in the succeeding clauses. The sitting of hie and to the lcing's palace, may hold some clue servants. The word here used (::i~\t:1) occurs to the ascent being adverted to here. forty-three times, and is rendered in the Ver. 8.-The abstinence on the part of the Authorized Version thirty-two of these times queen in her mention of thG Lord God of as '' habitation " or "dwelling.'' Of the Israel, and of the Lord thy God, of uny in- remaining eleven times, one or other of those dication of a desire that he should become words would be almost the synonym of the her God, is as suggestive as it is noticeable word used, and in every case the rendering (compare Hiram's language in eh. ii. 12). •• dwelling," if kept to the general idea of Ver. 9.-An hundred and twenty talents a dwelling or resting-place more or Ieee of gold. Putting the value of gold at £.l per temporary, would not be inappropriate or in- ounce, the value of one talent would be consistent with the evident di·ift of the con- £5476, making a tote.I of £657,120. Poole nection; only here and in the parallel is the makes it £1,250,000; S. Clarke, £720,000. inconvenient rendering "sitting" adopted From our vers. 13, 14we learn that in one year by the Authorized Version. Hence we dis- Solomon received 666 talents, beside what agree ·with Professor Dr. Murphy's explana- me1·chante brought. Any suoh spice. The tion, the sitt-ing, i.e. '' in council of his ohief pe.rallel hRe '' no more such abundance of officers." What the nature of the location spices," and "?f spices very great store." (to use a torm least specific) of the servnnts 'l'he Arabian spices, and their land and ewn pointed to here is, nevertheless, still not sea borne fragrance, as also the very lucra- quite clenr. It ie evidently placed in some tive trade they cre11ted, are often alludet.l to 108 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [orr. 1x. 1-31.